The Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners are surprise entries in the Josh Hamilton free agency sweepstakes, according to CBSSports.com.

Hamilton, considered by most to be the premier free agent in this year’s market, reportedly is seeking a nine-figure contract—the kind of contract that usually is reserved for big-market, big-budget franchises.

The Orioles and Mariners reportedly are interested in signing Josh Hamilton. (AP Photo)

However, this isn’t a typical free-agent market in terms of the teams involved or the player involved. Big-budget teams like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels are curbing spending, and Hamilton comes with a fair share of risk (addiction problems, age and injuries).

All of those factors could result in the 31-year-old Hamilton signing with an unexpected team. In addition to the Orioles and Mariners, the Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves have been mentioned as potential suitors for the 2010 AL MVP.

"If the right bat's available, we're going to have to talk about it," Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik told CBSSports.com "We're going to have several discussions with agents."

As for the Orioles, The Baltimore Sun speculates the team is unlikely to get into the bidding for Hamilton unless his asking price drops significantly. The sense is that Hamilton has too much baggage and is too much of an injury risk for the Orioles

The Texas Rangers, for whom Hamilton has played the past five seasons, haven’t closed the door on re-signing him, but that scenario appears unlikely.

"I think there's this perception out there that we don't want Josh back," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "That's not accurate. We have to address our catching and our bullpen, just because we've got holes there. Josh is a different story. There's just not too many Josh Hamiltons out there. Josh is an impact player we'd love to have back, but we also have other good players in that spot."

In 148 games this past season, Hamilton hit .285 with 43 homers, 128 RBIs, a .354 on-base percentage and a .577 slugging percentage.